So said John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, a historian in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. This phrase simply tells us what we don’t want to believe: many times, we have to bend our morals to get what we want.

In extreme historical examples, we know that absolute power can change the world for the worst. Hitler used it to kill innocent people. That can also be said of Alexander, the Great as well.

This tells us something about humans getting too much power.

When people simply have power over themselves, and their decisions only affect their own lives, they are often not satisfied.

Something within us wants to be influential.

And it should be noted that many of the people that history has chosen to remember were in fact corrupted by power. It’s practically a requirement.

Wanting to be influential is not necessarily a bad thing. But what we do with the power… that is what decides how we are remembered.

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About Us

Welcome to the West Civ Proj!
This is a blog written and edited by the 9th grade Honors West Civ class at the John Carroll School in Bel Air, MD. We hope you enjoy our blog and we look forward sharing ideas and opinions with you! We love comments and we look forward to having a conversation about history... a conversation that includes all of you!